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two or three old green hats with their crowns thrust in so as to hold ten or a dozen eggs, which were of a pheasant kind of poultry he took much care of and fed himself. Tables, dice, cards, and boxes were not wanting. In the hole of the desk, were store of tobacco-pipes that had been used.

'On one side of this end of the room was the door of a closet, wherein stood the strong beer and the wine, which never came thence but in single glasses; that being the rule of the house exactly observed. For he never exceeded in drink, or permitted it.

On the other side was the door of an old chapel, not used for devotion. The pulpit, as the safest place, was never wanting of a cold chine of beef, venison-pasty, gammon of bacon, or great apple-pye with thick crust extremely baked.

• His table cost him not much, though it was good to eat at. His sports supplied all but beef and mutton, except Fridays, when he had the best salt-fish (as well as other fish) he could get, and was the day his neighbours of best quality most visited him. He never wanted a London pudding, and always sung it in with My part lies therein a.' He drank a glass or two of wine at meals, very often syrup of gilliflower in his sack; and had always a tun glass without feet stood by him, holding a pint of small beer, which he often stirred with rosemary.

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'He was well-natured, but soon angry, calling his servants bastards' and 'cuckoldy' knaves, in one of which he often spoke truth to his own knowledge; and sometimes in both, though of the same man. He lived to be a hundred; never lost his eye-sight, but always wrote and read without spectacles; and got on horseback without help. Until past fourscore, he rode to the death of a stag as well as any.'

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ALGERNON SIDNEY.*

[1622-1683.]

THIS illustrious character, the second son of Robert Earl of Leicester by his wife Dorothy, eldest daughter of Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland, was born about the year 1622. His noble father gave great attention to his education, even in his early years; and in 1632, when he went Embassador to Denmark, took him in his train, as he did also when in the same capacity he visited Paris in 1636. About this time, his genius began to display itself: and an active life seeming best suited to the bent of his natural disposition, the Earl, upon being appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, procured him a commission in his own regiment of horse in 1641; and sent him over to that kingdom, accompanied by his elder brother, Philip Viscount Lisle, who acted as deputy to his father. The Irish rebellion had then broken out; and Sidney upon many occasions distinguished himself by his bravery.

In 1643, he had the royal permission to return to England with his brother, on the express condition of

* AUTHORITIES. General Biographical Dictionary, Memoirs prefixed to Hollis' Edition of his Works, and Towers' Examination, &c. of the Charges brought against Russell and Sidney, 1773.

repairing without loss of time to his Majesty at Oxford; of which the parliament receiving intelligence, they were both taken into custody upon their landing in Lancashire. The King suspected, that they had voluntarily thrown themselves into his enemies' hands; and the event appeared to justify his surmises, for from this time they adhered to the parliamentary interest. In 1644, Algernon accepted a Captain's commission of horse; and, the year following, was raised to the rank of Colonel of Cavalry by General Fairfax.

Lord Lisle being shortly afterward appointed by the parliament Lieutenant General of Ireland, and Commander in Chief of their Irish forces, Algernon (who served under his brother in that kingdom) performed such signal exploits, that he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General of the Irish Horse, and made Governor of Dublin. The latter appointment however, being thought too weighty a trust for so young a man, who was likewise somewhat dissi. pated in his conduct, was in 1647 transferred to Colonel Jones, a senior officer. But upon his return to England, he received the thanks of the House of Commons for his exertions in the sister-island; and, in recompence of his services, was soon afterward made Governor of Dover Castle. In 1648, he was nominated one of the Members of the High Court of Justice, appointed to try Charles I.; but, from some cause or other yet unascertained, he neither sat in judgement upon that occasion, nor does his name appear in the warrant for his execution. Yet was he, on patriotic grounds, a zealous foe to tyranny of every description, always professing to make Marcus Brutus his model: so that, when Cromwell usurped the supreme authority, he opposed him with great

violence; and could never be prevailed upon to accept any employment, civil or military, under either of the Protectors.

By some writers it is conjectured, that he absented himself from the trial of Charles at the request of his father, whose political principles led him to disap prove that transaction; though by the son it was subsequently vindicated in a conversation at Copenhagen, as "the justest action that ever was done in England, or any where else." It ought to be observed, that when the University of Copenhagen laid before him their album,* he wrote in it the following lines, and subscribed them with his name:

-Manus hæc inimica tyrannis

Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem.†

From these sentiments compared with his labours in the cause of civil liberty, for which he died, we

* A book with blank leaves, in which strangers are desired to inscribe whatever they think proper.

† Under the etching of Sidney's Head in Hollis' Memoirs, which is accompanied by the flag he bore during the civil wars, with the simple inscription

SANCTUS AMOR
PATRIA

DAT ANIMUM,

is subjoined the following anecdote:

"At the time when Mr. Algernon Sidney was Embassador at the court of Denmark, Monsieur Terlon the French Embassador had the confidence to tear out of the book of Mottoes in the King's Library this verse, which Mr. Sidney (according to the liberty allowed to all noble strangers) had written in it, Manus hæc, &c.

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Though Monsieur Terlon understood not one word of Latin, he was told by others the meaning of that sentence, which he considered as a libel upon the French government, and upon

may reasonably conclude, that if any well concerted plan had been formed for deposing or even destroying Cromwell as an usurper, he would have cordially joined in carrying it into execution.

After Richard Cromwell had resigned the Protectorship, Sidney willingly engaged in the administration of public affairs; in May, 1659, was nominated by the parliament one of the Council of State; and, the following month, accepted the appointment, in conjunction with two other Commissioners, of mediating a peace between the Kings of Denmark and Sweden.

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Upon the Restoration, he was advised by his friends, through his father's interest with the King, to get his name inserted in the Act of Oblivion; but he chose rather to continue an exile in different parts of Europe. His longest residence was at Rome and in it's environs, where he received numerous civilities from persons of the first consideration, and was highly esteemed for his courage, wit, and learning. But the Argus eyes of the English government were upon him; and a plan, it is said, was laid to assassinate him at Augsburg, which he escaped only by being at the time in Holland. Tired of paying and receiving visits, and wishing to withdraw himself more from the world, he passed into Switserland, where he spent a short time with General Ludlow and his companions in banishment. He, afterward, visited France; and it is recorded, that as he was hunting one day with Louis XIV., that Monarch took great notice of the horse upon which he was mounted,

such as was then setting up in Denmark by French assistance or example." (Lord Molesworth's Preface to his Account of Denmark.')

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